One of the biggest problems facing the retail clothing industry is the return of merchandise due to improper fit. Fit is cited as an important problem since customers often do not know their size in a particular manufacturer's clothing line. Escalating the problem, most manufacturers have developed their own systems for sizing. Regarding sales made in department stores, boutiques, or other stores, customers often try on three or four different sizes from a given manufacturer's clothing line to determine which size fits their body properly. This is both time consuming and frustrating. For the mail order catalogs and home shopping industry on television, returns are one of the biggest drawbacks of selling fashions. This is because the customers do not have the opportunity to try on garments before purchasing and must guess which size they would be in a given manufacturer's clothing line. Often, when the customers receive the garment through the mail, the garments do not fit properly and must be returned. Similar problems occur when a customer uses her computer to shop via the Internet or to shop using a CD-ROM database containing an inventory of merchandise. Thus, a need exists for a system or method to reduce the number of returns due to improper fit of the merchandise and lessen the amount of time trying on merchandise during in-store shopping.
Another drawback for in-store shopping is the large amount of inventory which must be made available. Today, customers lead very busy lives and often do not have the time to sift through all of the merchandise. Thus, a need exists for a method of allowing customers to see merchandise quickly and efficiently.
A further drawback for in-store shopping pertains to tracking inventory. Sales people often are not aware of which merchandise has been back-ordered or which merchandise is instock. Sales people tell the customer to look on the floor to see if an item in the customer's size is available. Thus, there exists a need to track inventory and order inventory if merchandise is purchased which is not in stock.